What is a North Elevation? East and West? Elevations Explained

What is a North Elevation?

Explanation with Words:

Imagine you are standing north of a building, but facing the building.

What direction are you facing? You are facing south.

The view of the building that you are seeing is called the “north elevation”. It is basically what you while looking South, when you are standing North of a particular building. A little tricky hey? It’s simple enough, but it’s extremely important that you get this distinction right. Here is a plan drawing.

Pop Quiz:

What is the north Elevation in the drawing below?

This is a plan drawing. Guess which is the north elevation?

Here is the answer:

Diagrammatic Explanation of What a North Elevation is:

Showing what the north elevation actually is.

What are East, West and South Elevations?

Well, you’d basically have to faceEast, West and South respectively and align yourself to see the building, given the direction you are facing. It’s quite simple really! For an East elevation, see the building while looking East. For a west elevation, look at the building while facing west.